Call for entries: We're looking for the West's best new gardens

Chris Leschinsky

Sunset’s 2010-2011 Dream Garden Awards: Here’s how landscape professionals can enter a new or remodeled garden

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Deadlinefor completed entries:May 19, 2010

The Sunset Dream Garden Awards competition has been celebrating great garden design for more than a decade. Our search for entries in our 2010-2011 competition begins with some exciting categories designed to show distinctive Western design.

Fee: $50 for each entry. (Discounted entry fee for entries received by May 10, 2010: $30.)

Landscape architects and landscape designers of new or newly renovated gardens (completed after January 2007), from the 13 Western states and British Columbia, are invited to submit completed designs in five categories:

Outdoor living and entertaining. These gardens make the best use of space and design to optimize outdoor living. They might include kitchens, fireplaces or firepits, play areas, outdoor offices, sport courts, pools, pizza ovens or other activity-oriented structures.

Regional Gardens. Landscapes that use materials and plants most appropriate for the climate and terrain of a particular region, whether Pacific Northwest; the West’s mountain regions; Northern California; Southern California; Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico); or Hawai’i.

Small Gardens. Compact urban or suburban landscapes that feature innovative design, good use of space (including living walls or compact roof gardens), and interesting plants in an area of 1,500 square feet or less.

Sustainable gardens. These gardens are designed to “touch the land lightly” and to conserve precious resources such as water. Examples include native plant gardens, meadows, rain gardens (designed to channel, store, and reuse rainfall), waterwise or firewise gardens, edible gardens, and landscapes that make good use of recycled materials).

Garden Renovations (Before & Afters). These landscape makeovers, of front yards, sideyards, or backyards, clearly demonstrate fresh design of tired or outdated spaces. Presentations must include before images as well as “afters”, ideally taken from roughly the same angles.

Who is eligible: The competition is open to landscape professionals who earn most or all of their income designing gardens.

Entries must be located in and be the work of registered landscape architects and designers in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, or British Columbia.